Sport Continues To Catch On

Lake Sports - High School Girls Weightlifting

The State Invitational Drew 400 Entrants, But The Event Has Not Been Sanctioned By The Fhsaa.

November 21, 2001|By Richard Burton, Sentinel Correspondent

BUSHNELL -- Since becoming a club sport six years ago, girls weightlifting has grown in leaps and bounds, but it hasn't gotten the respect it needs in order to be sanctioned by the Florida High School Activities Association.

Girls weightlifting was only offered at eight schools in the state during its first year, six in Marion County in addition to Wildwood and Williston.

The sport, however, has caught on as more than 30 schools and more than 400 lifters competed at last year's state invitational at Belleview High School.

South Sumter has 55 girls involved in its girls weightlifting program, one of the larger teams in the state.

"The girls just enjoy it," Raiders Coach Doreen Oswald said. "We offer a weightlifting class and I have between 20 to 25 girls lifting weights during the day, so it has really caught on."

Despite this interest, the FHSAA hasn't made girls weightlifting an official sport.

"Two years ago there was a big push and the FHSAA represenatives came down to Belleview [High School] and the meet went off perfect," Oswald said. "I really thought they would have sanctioned it then, but they didn't and I am not really sure why."

One of the reasons why many have been due to rumbling about how the format for the sport should be as far as which lifts are allowed.

Coaches in the southern part of the state have wanted to switch the two lifts used in the sport to the bench press and clean-and-jerk, just like the boys do in weightlifting. But many want the girls do use the bench and the regular power clean in an effort to avoid injuries.

The clean doesn't require athletes to force a bar over their head; the jerk -- which can cause shoulder injuries and other bumps and bruises -- does.

"The clean is a competitive lift and it is also a safe lift," said Wildwood Coach Gary Hughes, who is also the school's head football coach and supervises the team's weightlifting classes.

"With girls, their strength is going to be more in their legs than in their shoulders, so the clean is a better lift for them to do than the clean-and-jerk."

Some of the more vocal coaches in Marion County have said if the state sanctions the sport and changes the clean to the jerk, they would probably do their own thing and not participate.

"I would have to be a proponent of it [using the clean]," he said. "I would think that it would be in the best interest of everyone if they just left things the way they were."

Oswald felt that the addition of the clean-and-jerk would "hurt the numbers a little bit for her squad," but she didn't feel her team would be affected by those losses.

Debates aside, coaches have described how much they enjoy being involved with the sport.

Leesburg Coach Bud O'Hara, who led Lake County's only girls weightlifting team before it disbanded earlier this year, believes the effort and intensity rivals that of the boys.

"It's fun for the girls and they really take it seriously," O'Hara said. "I loved coaching it. They really go out and outwork the boys. They do a wonderful job."

Because no Lake County schools have a girls weightlifting team, Wildwood will be forced to travel as far as Dunnellon and Williston this season and will not have a home match.

South Sumter, meanwhile, will host only two matches and be on the road for the remainder of the season.

"With us not being in [the Gulf Coast Athletic] Conference it made it a little harder for us to get meets," Oswald said. "But we are hosting two invitationals, which will help our team."